You
A century or two ago we built our church and mark the common out
We raised the town hall next so we could have our say about the taxes or whether we need another teacher for the school
When town meeting comes around we know our rights and duties and no harm if we disagree in all that matters we neighbors hold together
We work from Sun to dark if you can call just work a job that helps make a body feel at peace while doing it
Or hum a bit with pleasure when it's done
Art isn't something foreign we look at in a showcase. It's in the blankets that we've spun and woven right at home
It's in the patchwork quilt sewn by our daughters at a quilting bee for someone's bridal chest
It's in the locks and hinges that the blacksmith shapes
It's in the baskets that are woven in the neighborhood to fit our household needs from marketing to mending
When water wheels are better fitted to do the work than human hands
We rig up the machines to saw the wood or grind the corn for harmony grits and Johnny cake
A while ago that corn was on the stock above the pumpkins ripe and yellow
One night the neighbors met to shell the ears together
They did the job in no time so they could clear the old barn floor and choose their favorite partners for the dances
There was lasting harmony between the soil and what we built or planted there
We used our hands and mastered what we laid our hands on
Working and living we found a balance the town was us and we were part of it
We never let our cities grow too big for us to manage
We never pushed the open land too far away
We youngsters took it in the haying field the mill the daily chores were teachers
We old ones had good years of family life our own
Our children's mellow years before the ripe fruit fell
As fruit will drop on windless autumn days
And that was peace
The seed was ready for the earth again ready to die
Ready once more to grow
So
Chains inventions power black out the past forget the quiet cities bring in the steam and steel the iron men the giants
Open the throttle all aboard the promised land
Pillars of smoke by day pillars of fire by night pillars of progress
Machines to make machines production to expand production. There's wood and wheat and kitchen sinks and calico
Already made in tons and carload lots enough for tens thousands millions millions faster and faster better and better
You
It don't make us any happier to know there's millions like us living here on top of it
There's prisons where a guy sent up for crime can get a better place to live in than we can give our children
Smoke makes prosperity they tell you here
Smoke makes prosperity no matter if you choke on it
We got to face life in these shacks and alleys we got to let our children take their chances here with rickets typhoid
tb or worse
They draw a blank the kids
They have no business here. This no man's land this flag heap wasn't meant for them
There's poison in the air. We breathe there's poison in the river the fog and smoke blow right up and choke us
Chokas
Don't tell us that this is the best that you can do in building cities
We built this place
What put us here
And how do we get out again? We're asking
Just asking
We might as well stay in the mills and call that home. It just as fit to live in
We mine the coal load the furnace roll the steel drive the rivets we lock the bolt on the assembly line
We lock the bolt on the assembly line lucky if we have the chance to keep the job from day to day from month to month
The
Dirty work alone don't get us down
We're not ashamed to handle coal and iron all the way from mine shafts to skyscrapers
We turn out cars attractors. We're mighty proud of same as you, but how does that make sense with this?
We never get the gritty feel out of our nose our eyes our lungs our guts
We never get a chance to see how blue the sky can be unless the mills are all shut down
Smoke makes prosperity. They say does this mean that there's no way out for us. There must be something better
Why can't we have it a decent home?
So
Follow the crowd get the big money you make a pile and raise a pile that makes another pile for you
Follow the crowd. We've reached a million two million five million. Watch us grow going up. It's new. It's automatic
It dictates records seals sterilizers stamps and delivers in one operation without human hand. What am I bid?
What am I offered sold? Who's next the people? Yes follow the crowd to the empire city the wonder city the windy city the fashion city
The people yes
the people
perhaps
So
So very truly yours most sincerely we beg to remain yours most respectful dear sir
Thank you
So
This myth who's on call dr. Nicol is on call dr. Nicol dr. Nicol
Get dr. Lee, but not another street case compound factor of the tibia
Can't locate dr. Lee from 38th floor compound back to the tibia
So